One in three Americans suffers from sleep issues like insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and more. Whether we are having trouble falling asleep, waking up at night, or waking up fatigued and not fully rested in the morning, sleep is a crucial stage of life.
We need sleep for:
- Repairing tissues and muscles
- Healing from injury and illnesses
- Resetting and cleaning the brain
- Production of energy
- Hormone and mood regulation
If you’re not getting proper sleep, you can’t heal or recover. Eventually, you will have numerous health issues because of your lack of sleep.
Bad sleep, poor hygiene, and poor quality of sleep have been shown to diminish your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Insomnia also leads to serious health consequences like cancer, raising our blood pressure, increasing the risk of diabetes, and increasing obesity. Americans who suffer from poor sleep find it difficult to lose weight, which eventually leads to more weight gain over time. If you’re in the gym working out, you’re minimizing your health and muscle gains, and your workouts are affected by a lack of sleep.
What would you say is the average amount of sleep you get every night? How many hours do you think your father slept at your age? And what about your grandfather? I was baffled upon reading the experts who tallied up the average number of hours of sleep Americans have been getting since 1942. Currently, 59% of adults in the United States get eight hours of sleep or more. In 1942, 84% of Americans had eight hours or more! What this means for us is that four in ten Americans don’t get enough sleep, and that 70 years ago, our grandparents or great-grandparents most likely did.
Can you remember famous athletes, gurus, and heroes saying that they needed “less sleep than the average person”? It turns out they were lying to themselves and to me – or both. Even successful athletes and celebrities who don’t sleep very much, like Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Michael Jordan, and Barack Obama, all of whom claim to sleep only 4 to 5 hours a night, are very likely sacrificing their health with such a low amount of sleep.
Do you remember seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger movies back in the 1980s? He was a massive specimen with muscles on top of muscles. It turns out he was taking exogenous anabolic steroids to help gain the size of muscles he had. And he also slept 8 to 9 hours every night. Exogenous (from the outside) steroids like human growth hormone and testosterone have been very common amongst the bodybuilding community for the last forty years. One of these strength-boosting chemicals, human growth hormone (HGH), is produced by the pituitary gland in your brain and plays a huge role in your development as a child, the health of your adult tissues, your metabolism, and likely increases your lifespan. Scientists have shown that 75% of human growth hormone(HGH) is secreted while you sleep!
Sleep is the undervalued practice amongst the majority of workaholics and super productive business types, who get four to five hours of sleep every night in an attempt to squeeze in as much as possible every day. If you really want to seize the day, you must first get optimal rest, and in doing so, you will actually be “seizing the night”. When we deprive the body of adequate sleep, we speed up the aging process. While we sleep, the brain can clean up cellular garbage and repair and rebuild itself. One of the most important functions of sleep is the reorganization of neural networks in your brain. Every day, all day long, you are consciously and unconsciously learning new things, new skills, and new memories. After a long day of these activities, our brains are filled with all sorts of information that needs to be integrated and organized with prior memories and previously learned things in our lives. While you sleep, you absorb and process all this information. In addition to the organization that occurs in our brains at night, we are also flushing toxins through our lymphatic system, called the glymphatic system. If the reorganization and glymphatic drainage are not operating properly, your brain becomes this disorganized storage center for cellular garbage. If this happens, it affects nearly every function in your body. Chronic sleep deprivation can manifest as a weakened immune system, issues with hot and cold regulation, increased cortisol and other stress hormones, blood sugar-related hormonal issues, and increased levels of inflammatory chemicals like C-reactive protein and interleukin.
So often when we are feeling burned out, overworked, and stressed, we take a day off and relax. You need to understand that this is not fixing anything. Unlike resting or conserving your energy, the mechanics of neural tissue repair require you to be actually sleeping for the repair to happen.
Here are several factors that affect sleep:
- Poor sleep, posture, and position
- High-stress lifestyles
- Sleep apnea, insomnia, and chronic pain
- Prescription medication, stimulants, caffeine, and alcohol
Lots of Americans presume that alcohol helps them get to bed and sleep better; however, research shows that when we drink alcohol, it does create sedation. Sedation is not sleep. This is why sleep medications are not helpful. Sedation doesn’t activate the same internal recovery and healing in your brain that regular healthy sleep does. You’re not able to get all the cleaning, healing, regeneration, hormone-balancing, and repair that occur while you sleep.
Conventional sleep aids and medications have been shown to make sleep problems worse. And obviously, there are serious side effects like mood changes, personality changes, the risk of self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and actions. This allopathic approach to sleep using medication never addresses the actual problem interfering with your ability to get a good night’s sleep.
More and more Americans are turning to chiropractic to help with sleep, because as you balance the nervous system, the body can engage in higher levels of REM and deep sleep. These crucial sleep cycles are the pillars of healing.
$149 New Patient Special
Includes Private Consultation to discuss your needs & concerns, Gentle Chiropractic Examination to find out what’s wrong, Any necessary X-rays to understand your condition fully, Report of Findings.
How Our Better, Stronger, Healthier Plan Works
1. Better
Many people seek help from a chiropractor only when they are suffering from such intense pain that it is interfering with their daily life. Chiropractic classifies treatment in this period of intense pain as relief care. The chiropractor’s focus during this period is to alleviate your symptoms. Sometimes, this will require daily visits or two to three visits per week for some time.
2. Stronger
We regard eliminating your symptoms as the easiest part of a persons care. If we stop there it’s very likely that the underlying cause of the pain (disk problem, curved spine, limited range of motion, etc.)will cause a recurrence of the condition. If you repeat the process of treating only the pain, then over time your structural problem will only worsen leading to a chronic state of pain and suffering.
3. Healthier
Once the chiropractor determines that you have fully recovered from your injury you are ready for treatment in Stage 3 – Wellness. As strange as it may seem this might well be the most important part of the entire process. Most of the injuries that people suffer that lead them to chiropractors occur because their bodies aren’t really in overall good health.
How We Improve Sleep In Escondido, CA
Comprehensive Consultation and Exam
Your journey at Corrective Spinal Care of California starts with an in-depth initial visit, including a comprehensive consultation and exam. One of our chiropractors will take the time to discuss your concerns, how they impact your daily life, and your personal goals—improving sleep is a common objective for many new patients. This conversation allows our doctors to connect with you on a personal level, enabling them to offer tailored recommendations for your care.
Following the consultation, a detailed examination is conducted, including orthopedic, neurologic, and functional movement assessments, as well as digital X-ray analysis.
Digital X-rays
At Corrective Spinal Care of California, we take standing digital X-rays to see exactly what’s going on inside. For managing sleep, it is crucial to have a clear picture or blueprint of your spine. With these specific X-rays, we can detect prior injuries, abnormalities, improper biomechanics, or degeneration that may be contributing to your sleep disturbance. X-rays can even reveal conditions like osteoporosis, tumors, arthritis, spinal misalignments, and fractures. If your problem is not a chiropractic issue, we will refer you to the appropriate specialist.
We often see patients who have been to several chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, and orthopedic surgeons. Sometimes the problem isn’t a lack of sleep meds. At Corrective Spinal Care of California, we’re able to pinpoint the root of the problem, which is often in another area of the body.
With modern digital X-ray technology, very, very small amounts of radiation are used. The diagnostic benefits of digital X-ray greatly outweigh the risks. X-ray technology is a safe and invaluable method for chiropractors to help patients sleep. With digital X-rays, we can determine the best treatment for your specific needs. Once a corrective care plan is completed, the doctors at Corrective Spinal Care of California take additional digital X-rays and compare them with the initial set. Here, we can see whether we corrected the problem once and for all. Did we get to the root of your problem so you don’t have to keep dealing with it for years to come?
Specific Chiropractic Care in Escondido, CA
Oftentimes, new patients in our clinic all describe the same thing to us. The treatment and care plans in our clinic are different from those of other chiropractors and therapists they’ve been to. Specificity and science are crucial ingredients to our success. Most spinal issues are created by what’s called a subluxation, where vertebrae in the spine have become misaligned and out of place and are not able to move properly with the other vertebrae. When that happens, nerves can become irritated, eventually leading to issues like sleep deprivation. The majority of people with sleep issues have a subluxation in the upper cervical spine, or neck. The nerves in these areas come out of the upper part of the neck and travel up to the back of the head. When these nerves are pinched or irritated, sleep cycles can be disrupted. Utilizing specific corrective chiropractic care in this area of the neck allows our doctors to remove any nerve interference and restore your normal nerve function. For the majority of our patients, this approach will aid sleep recovery.
Custom Therapeutic Exercise Plan
At Corrective Spinal Care of California, our team emphasizes posture. Your posture is a window into your spine, which directly relates to your health. As the spine decays, so will your health.“If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old. If it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.” Many who come to our clinic with headaches have direct problems related to their posture that have been there for many years. Correcting these posture issues becomes crucial to properly addressing the problem causing sleep regulation issues.
At Corrective Spinal Care of California, our doctors work together to develop custom, tailored exercise plans tailored to your needs. Very often, patients need to complete at-home exercises between clinic visits. We will also review with you how to avoid making your problem worse while at work. It is a team effort in which our doctors, staff, and patients work together to achieve the patient’s health.
Sleep Modification Coaching in Escondido, CA
Circadian Rhythms
The first thing out of bed in the morning, your body experiences a surge of cortisol, which turns your brain and body on. We also release the hormone vasoactive intestinal polypeptide. This crucial hormone, which we will call VIP, causes an increase in heart contractions, widening of your blood vessels, and glycogen storage in the liver to break down and increase blood sugar. VIP also regulates our hunger hormones. For people who suffer from food cravings throughout the day or trouble sleeping late at night, it is important to eat a meal in the first two hours after waking to reset your circadian clock and regulate your hormonal rhythm. You can also go outside and get some morning sunshine to really gain all the benefits of cortisol release and jump-start your circadian rhythms.
Between nine and ten a.m., our sex hormones have been released and are peaking. This is usually the best time of day for intimacy, or if your sex drive is lagging and you want to give it some help. Sex at this time of the day also helps reset your circadian rhythms when having difficulty sleeping at night.
Between three and five p.m., our muscles are primed, cardiovascular efficiency is at its peak, and recovery from workouts is at its peak. These are the best times of day for intense exercise (I prefer intense mountain runs and surfing at these times; however, I usually do most of my workouts in the mornings).
As the sun goes down, our blood pressure and body temperature peak, which is why an early-evening cold shower or ice bath can help improve your sleep by lowering your core temperature. The hormone leptin is released from fat stores, prompting our bodies to use fat for energy and suppressing appetite, helping control late-night food cravings. Excessive nighttime light exposure and large evening meals both reduce leptin release, leading to late-night snacking. So to keep it simple, don’t eat after eight p.m. and don’t use your smartphone close to bedtime if you want to normalize your circadian rhythms.
Between nine and ten p.m., your body starts secreting the hormone melatonin, helping you sleep and recuperate and turning off brain activity. If you have been basking in artificial light from computer screens, smartphones, and televisions, you may not be releasing enough melatonin, leading to sleep issues.
Between 2 AM and 6 AM, your core body temperature drops dramatically, allowing your nervous system to begin repairing and your immune system to kick in. If you can get solid sleep during this phase, you will have less inflammation and improved immune function. The only way for your core body temperature to drop during this phase of sleep is if you have already been asleep for six hours.
How Much Sleep Do You Need?
Many factors affect each person’s unique sleep needs, including age, genetics, environment, and differences in mental and physical strain. Here are the National Sleep Foundation‘s guidelines on the most recent sleep research:
- Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours
- Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours
- Toddlers (1-2 years): 11-14 hours
- Preschoolers (3-5): 10-13 hours
- School-Age Children (6-13): 9-11 hours
- Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours
- Young Adults (18-25): 7-9 hours
- Adults (26-64): 7-9 hours
- Older Adults (65+): 7-8 hours
Beds
Which bed should I choose? This is one of the most common questions patients ask in our clinic. My typical response is, the firmer, the better. With so many different body types, I’d also encourage you to look for a combination of support and comfort. For 15 years, I had recommended the Tempur-Pedic line of beds for their combination of support and comfort. I currently encourage investing in an organic mattress made from natural materials like cotton and wool. The last thing you want to be doing is breathing in synthetic chemicals while you sleep. If we are strictly talking about your body mechanics, I would encourage a bed lower to the floor, which would also be beneficial for adding squats to your routine. The more squatting you do (with good mechanics), the more it will benefit your hips, ankles, knees, and spine. While the typical American mattress is several feet from the ground, traditional Japanese Tatami mats are only a few inches from the ground. The general rule here is that the closer to the ground, the better.
The firmer and flatter your mattress is, the better. This goes against a lot of the advertisements you see on television, but air mattresses, water mattresses, water beds, adjustable flotation, and adjustable air beds are not helpful. None of those options gives you true support. The firmer and flatter your mattress is, the better.
The most important factor here is your comfort. If you’re not getting really good sleep because of a firm mattress, it is time to make a change. Good sleep is one of the most underrated tools to help your health. Your bedroom should be designed to be a restful sanctuary. Getting rid of non-sleeping furnishings like televisions, computers, and workout equipment will set the tone for your nervous system to recognize that the bedroom is only for sleeping. This can aid in sleep efficiency. Sleep efficiency is the percentage of time asleep while in bed. It is calculated by dividing the time asleep by the total time in bed. You should aim for at least 85% sleep efficiency.
Sleep Postures
The best position to sleep in is on your back.
The best position to sleep in (and there’s only one) is on your back. I can only imagine that the majority of you reading this already believe that there is no way you can sleep on your back. I’m going to explain to you a way you can do this. The two things you will need are a good support pillow for your head and neck, and a wedge to support your legs and lower back. This will help you, especially if you’re curvy.
If you have any curves in your hips when you lie flat on your back, you will notice your lower back is pushed into extension. If you prop your legs up with a pillow or wedge, you will notice that the excessive extension in the lower back goes away. Simple and easy. When choosing a pillow for your head and neck, you want to support your neck more than your head. With your neck supported, your spine will maintain a neutral posture. A typical pillow makes your head jut forward, which strains your neck and upper back. Sleeping with two pillows pushes your head further forward, three pillows even further,r and falling asleep on the couch turns your spine into a “C”. So don’t do that! Get a little more support under your neck than your head. Use a firm pillow high enough to keep your head in a neutral position rather than too far flexed forward or far back in extension. When you are on your back and elevate your legs, your circulation is flowing well, your spine is supported, and your body will really feel at ease. Another great thing about this wedge of foam or pillow is that you’ve now created my version of a $5,000 adjustable bed. You can certainly purchase an adjustable bed, but you can also simplify with the technique I just shared with you. Without a doubt, the absolute best way for most of you to sleep will be on your back. Now, the second way to sleep (and it is a very distant second) is going to be on your side. Here’s the problem with being on the side.
If you sleep on your side, you’re going to develop shoulder problems. But most people don’t sleep on their sides. They start on their side and eventually sleep on their stomach. Take a mental X-ray of your spine; if you are sleeping on your stomach with your head wrenched to one side so you can breathe, does that actually look comfortable? Most of you are smiling right now because this is how most of you sleep. Do you see how your pelvis is torqued, your spine is twisted, your shoulders are torqued, your neck is torqued, and you are sleeping on your arm?
Over time, people who sleep on their sides often say, “I wake up, and my arm is numb.” I’ll ask them, “What position do you sleep in?” Usually, they say, “I don’t know, I’m sleeping!” So I’ll tell you again: the best way for you to sleep is on your back, supported. The second-best way is to go on your side, with your legs and arms mirrored, meaning both the left and right arms are in the same position. The worst way to sleep is on your stomach, with your head turned all the way to one side or the other.
Preparing for Sleep
You should be protecting your sleep at all costs. So often, we let working late disrupt our sleep hygiene. By setting sleep boundaries, you can develop habits that help your body heal as well as possible at night. This takes some work. I’m going to review several routines to improve your nighttime self-care.
STEP ONE: LIGHT
Our bodies have rhythmic cycles as we discussed earlier in this chapter. Your hormones are released based on the amount of light you receive. One of the simplest ways to get a healthy night’s sleep is to get adequate sunlight during the day. As we discussed earlier in this chapter, morning sun exposure promotes your body’s ability to make and secrete melatonin, which helps prepare your body for sleep. Once the sun goes down, you must limit the amount of light in your home. This includes the blue light emitted by your cell phone, computers, and TVs. Shut down these devices one to two hours before sleeping. This is the simplest suggestion to improve your sleep hygiene.
STEP TWO: ELIMINATE LATE EATING
This can be one of the most challenging habits to break for most people. We all have had or currently have the nasty habit of emotional eating, particularly in the evening. I’m sure you can recall that little voice in your head encouraging you to get up off the couch or out of bed and go to the pantry for one more snack that you earned. That you deserve a little extra because you work so hard. It’s very likely that these signals are not coming directly from your brain, but are coming indirectly from your gut bacteria, which are craving sugars and simple carbohydrates. In turn, those gut bacteria stimulate your vagus nerve up to your brain to get you over to the pantry. You must resist these false signals! Researchers have found that eating within 2 hours of bedtime raises blood pressure, lowers sleep efficiency, and reduces time spent in the REM phase of sleep. Late-night eating also sets you up for the terrible cycle of overeating the following day because your late-night feed decreases the secretion of your satiety hormone leptin.
Making a healthy, short-term decision not to eat after eight PM or to avoid looking at your cell phone or computer will lay the foundation for long-term growth and health. Your body is constantly keeping track of the decisions and habits you have created. These long-term, beneficial health choices eventually become habits. Is our late-night snacking related to emotional stressors in our lives bubbling to the surface once work and family time are over? Address the stress and free your life. “Instead of asking, ‘ What do I want from life?, a more powerful question is, ‘ What does life want for me?’” – Eckhart Tolle
STEP THREE: WINDING DOWN ROUTINE
You can easily reprogram your brain to produce the right sleep hormones to help you sleep by following these simple evening routines:
- Journaling: This is a great time to jot down ideas and thoughts so you’re not waking yourself with your to-do list. I also think every day deserves a glance at what went well, what you could’ve done better, and what you’d like to do the next day differently.
- Meditation: anytime we can go inward and settle the mind, it helps calm us down, prepping ourselves for the parasympathetic state of rest and recovery.
- Reading: such a simple and productive way to gear up for rest.
- Hot water or tea: soothing teas can help program your mind to get ready for sleep.
- Yoga: self-care before bed is something most mammals do. Check in with your physical self by stretching, feeling, and visualizing your body recovering from the day’s work, workout, and/or injuries. Bringing your attention to an area of the body (without judging or doubting the healing) by increasing awareness helps your cells heal.
These simple, consistent habits around your bedtime cue your body to prepare for sleep. Over time, you can sleep-train yourself to be a healthier, more productive person every morning.
Supplementation
The simplest and most effective supplements to improve sleep are magnesium glycinate, L-theanine, and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). These minerals and amino acids help calm the body’s electrical system and enable it to produce melatonin, the essential hormone for sleep naturally.
We don’t always recommend taking melatonin directly, unless you’re traveling long distances or trying to adapt to new time zones. Ideally, your body can produce melatonin on its own rather than from an outside source.
Common Causes of Poor Sleep in Escondido, CA
Sleep Apnea
One of the most common causes of poor sleep and sleep apnea is this condition, which limits the amount of oxygen we get at night by temporarily halting our breathing. Over time, this contributes to fatigue and stress on the cardiovascular system. Chiropractors do not treat sleep apnea directly; by correcting biomechanical, postural, and neurological issues of the spine and the rib cage, we can help improve breathing naturally, using the body’s diaphragm. Neurologically, Chiropractic helps the communication between the brain and body. It helps strengthen a healthy cardiovascular and respiratory system.
Insomnia
A large number of Americans who have issues staying and falling asleep are related to chronic stressors in our lives. Physical, chemical, hormonal imbalances, and nervous system dysfunctions all can contribute to insomnia. Corrective chiropractic care aims to improve a balanced stress response and regulate your nervous system. Corrective spinal misalignments can lower cortisol, the stress hormone behind your fight-or-flight response, and help increase your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest, digestion, healing, and repair.
Headaches and Migraines
Often, the physical pain of a headache can make it very difficult to sleep. Headaches and migraines can also be associated with changes in serotonin levels. Every day, your body produces higher levels of serotonin in the morning, which gradually converts to melatonin later in the day. Headaches can disrupt the normal hormonal rhythm, which is essential for regulating your sleep. Corrective chiropractic care has an extremely high success rate in eliminating the root causes of headaches and migraines by removing pinched nerves and improving blood flow.
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330 W Felicita Ave Suite B-1, Escondido, CA 92025
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Chiropractic help with sleep?
Yes, corrective chiropractic care can help your body restore its normal, healthy sleep patterns by balancing your nervous system. Specific chiropractic adjustments help balance cortisol levels, taking you out of fight-or-flight stress mode and returning you to a more relaxed parasympathetic state. All of this will help improve your healing, rest, and repair.
Can being out of alignment cause insomnia?
Yes, having abnormal spinal alignments can pinch crucial nerve signals, increasing your likelihood of insomnia and disrupted sleep patterns.
How do you sleep after a corrective chiropractic adjustment?
Very often, within the first few weeks of starting a corrective chiropractic plan, many patients report improvements in their sleep quality and digestion.
Can chiropractic care help with snoring?
Snoring can be related to the position of your mandible (jaw) and its relationship to your neck and cervical spine. Corrective chiropractors specialize in the restoration of the alignment of the bones in your neck, as well as the mechanics of those joints. These corrections can positively impact your mandible and jaw, helping to relieve snoring.
Can chiropractic help with anxiety?
Although Chiropractic doesn’t directly treat anxiety, many report improvements in their anxiousness, depression, and other psychological challenges after corrective chiropractic adjustments. As your body and nerves send clearer signals to your brain, balancing the sympathetic nervous system can help restore brain chemistry, resolving underlying hormonal issues and improving hormone levels and mental health.
Which sleep aids actually work?
During a thorough examination, which may include digital X-rays and imaging, we can determine which sleep aids are right for you. Oftentimes, supplementation is recommended based on each unique patient’s specific needs.
$149 New Patient Special
Includes Private Consultation to discuss your needs & concerns, Gentle Chiropractic Examination to find out what’s wrong, Any necessary X-rays to understand your condition fully, Report of Findings.
